Stone’s finger pressed firmly into his jaw, urging him to look at him. Nico expected something with a sexual connotation to come out of Stone’s mouth. The man was good at spotlighting the moment, drawing it out for long minutes.
Instead, his voice was ragged and soft when he said, “I love you, too.”
They remained like that, staring at each other, Stone’s warm body heavy on top of him. Nico’s chest felt tight, the words—and the sentiment with which they were delivered—surprising in their intensity.
Stone leaned forward, their lips pressing together. Softly, gently. There was no tongue, only a brief moment that stood still as Stone’s hand flattened on his cheek, and they shared the same air.
“That’s all I need,” Stone whispered. “The rest is easy as long as I know where I stand with you.”
Nico was shocked to think Stone didn’t already know. Maybe they hadn’t said the words aloud, but the moments they’d shared these past few weeks had come with their own soundtrack, a ballad that connected past to present to future. Nico had let himself fall into them without reservation because he’d always suspected he could love this man. He did. He knew that as well as he knew the sun would rise in the morning.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Stevie,” Stone continued.
Nico touched him, wrapping his arm around Stone simply so he could feel more of him. He put his free hand on Stone’s face, his thumb brushing the stubble on his jaw. Neither moved, but the tension, weighted with passion and need, grew thick around them.
“Love me, Stone,” Nico whispered.
Stone lifted his head, his eyes dark with arousal and something else. Something more powerful. Nico felt it in the depths of his soul.
A second later, Stone was getting to his feet. He took Nico’s hand and pulled him up, then dragged him down the hall to his bedroom. The moment they stepped inside, time sped up. Stone crashed against him, holding him, kissing him. Their mouths sought the other, teeth clashing as their clothes disappeared.
“Nothin’ between us,” Stone whispered, but Nico could see the question in his eyes:condom or bareback?
“No barriers,” Nico agreed, desperate to feel Stone.
The only time they paused was so Stone could prepare them both. And then Stone was leaning over him on the bed, his cock pressed right where Nico needed him. Their eyes locked and held as Stone pushed inside him. Inch by inch, Nico accepted everything the man was willing to give him.
It was everything Nico had ever imagined and so much more. The two of them together as one. Rough and dirty, taking a backseat to sweet surrender. The lack of aggression did nothing to lessen the intensity. It was brutally beautiful in its simplicity, and Nico wished it would never end.
“I want to love you like this forever,” Stone whispered, his voice rough, his hands gentle even as he manipulated Nico’s body, contorting it so his cock went deeper.
Nico knew Stone wasn’t referring to the physical act because that was secondary at the moment, a way for them to be connected, but it wasn’t what was pulling them together. Sex didn’t feel this good. It just didn’t. This was far more than their bodies joining.
“Every day,” Stone whispered, pushing in slow and deep, retreating just as languidly.
The pleasure consumed him, taking over not only his body but also his mind. It was exquisite torture.
“For the rest of my life, Nico. You and Stevie … with me … it’s all I want.”
Nico felt the same. With the two of them, he was finally complete.
Stone shifted again, lifting up, maneuvering Nico’s leg to the side so that his torso was twisted. Then Stone was leaning over him again, his fist planted into the mattress beside Nico’s head, the other between his legs, stroking him as he fucked him.
“I wanna wake you up like this.” Stone’s voice was ragged and choppy, his eyes glittering.
“Yes,” Nico rasped, digging his fingers into the hard muscle of Stone’s ass, urging him deeper.
“Come for me, Nico,” Stone grunted, his breath hot against his face as he drove them both closer to the cliff’s edge.
“Tell me again,” Nico pleaded, needing to hear the words.
“I … want … you,” Stone whispered, his words punctuated by the thrust of his hips.
Those weren’t the words he wanted to hear.
“I … crave … you.”
“Stone…”
